According to the reports obtained from inside the Iranian regime, currently Sepand’s nuclear weapons-producing organization, headed by the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Brigadier General Mohsen Fakhrizadeh Mahabadi, continues to operate in Iran.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on March 17 that new sanctions would be imposed on some Iranian nuclear program operators.
On Wednesday, March 18, the United States announced the names of five of these individuals: Aref Bali Lashk (September 1963, Noshahr, Iran) Senior Expert of the “Amad [Logistics] Plan,” Sayed Mohammad Mehdi Hadavi (22 September 1963, Tehran, Iran) the project supervisor at the time of the “Amad Plan” implementation, Kamran Daneshjoo (July 5 1957, Damavand, Iran) Project Manager of the 111th section of the Amad Plan (which, according to IAEA data, was attempting to modify a Shahab missile to install a possible nuclear device on it) Mehdi Tehranchi (July 5, 1956, Tehran, Iran) Subproject supervisor of the ” Amad Project” (responsible for testing nuclear explosion) Ali Mehdipour Omrani (April 16, 1973, Tonekabon, Iran) Senior Expert in Subproject 3/11 of the “Logistics Design” (Project Simulation Team responsible for Nuclear Weapons Design)
The initial location of the Amad Plan was first revealed by the Iranian Resistance in May 2003, which was on the Lavizane-e Shian site, in Tehran. The IRGC was forced to demolish the Lavizane-e Shian site in December 2003 and excavate four meters deep and move it to another location.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in April and November 2004 revealed its new location, which was situated at Lavizan 2 site, also known as the “Mojdeh Site.” The NCRI identified the organization as “The Center of Logistics and New Defense Technologies.”
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2017-@NCRIUS called METFAZ,which was part of SPND,the latest known incarnation of the ‘Amad Plan’
Director of unit was Mohammad Ferdowsi,an engineer+high-explosive expert,working at Defense Ministry since1986,serving as board of directors chair of High-Explosive Society of MUT pic.twitter.com/T5u8xzNTvN— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) May 13, 2019
In the ensuing year, the organization which was assigned to implement the “Amad Plan” changed its name to SEPAND (New Defense Researches Organization). This change of organization and the new name of this organization was first revealed by the Iranian Resistance in July 2011. The names of those executives, who have recently been added to the U.S. list of sanctions, were previously revealed by the NCRI. Names of Seyed Mohammad Mehdi Mahdavi and Ali Mehdipour Omrani were exposed in a February 2008 press conference in Brussels, the name of Kamran Daneshjoo and the Name of Aref Bali Lashk on May 10, 2012 in the German newspaper Die Welt and the overall organization chart of Sepand was also announced.
The Iranian Resistance on April 21, 2017, exposed the continuation of the organization of producing nuclear weapon and the expansion of a part of its activities, at a press conference in Washington D.C.
SPND has many secret centers. #Iran Resistance has exposed 15 sites &front companies tied to SPND#IranDeal #FreeIran pic.twitter.com/M2e75LFTpy
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) April 21, 2017
Part of the NCRI’s revelation reads: “The engineering unit for the regime’s nuclear weapons program is called the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research known by its Persian acronym SPND. The information was gathered by the network of the main Iranian opposition movement, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, through assets within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Defense Ministry, and SPND, and so on. It shows that following the establishment of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015, not only has the unit remained in place and active, it is now clear that in some fields its activities have even expanded. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh Mahabadi, also known as Dr. Hassan Mohseni, is the key individual in the regime’s nuclear weapons program. He is a veteran IRGC brigadier general and continues to head SPND.”